Tony D’Orio

Information

Tony D'Orio never wanted to be a photographer. He wanted to be a “wise guy”,
like the characters he saw every day on the streets of his rough and tumble
childhood neighborhood on Chicago’s notorious West Side.

He coveted their fancy cars, shiny suits and clever nicknames, he even
started calling himself Tony “Bag of Donuts” when he was twelve, but
being half Polish, becoming a “made man” wasn’t meant to be. Irish
maybe, but Polack? Forget about it.

After a strident schooling administered by Jesuits at St. Ignatius College
Prep, Tony yearned to break free and express his creativity. He enrolled at
the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and there he discovered the Camera
Obscura.

Once Tony looked through a camera, he never looked back.
He shot the streets of Chicago and the people he found there. On those
streets he developed a voyeuristic shooting style and a love affair with the
human face - his love, as he puts it, “of characters.”
To make money Tony worked as a studio assistant and learned the finer
crafts of lighting and portraiture.

Tony also discovered photographs of famous people sitting in fancy chairs,
shot in warm cozy photography studios with a catered lunch, pay way
better than photographs of the “great unwashed” huddling under freezing
expressway feeder-ramps shot at 3AM.
It seems “Bag of Donuts” never totally lost his desire for fancy cars and
shiny suits.

While some argue D’Orio left his artistic integrity in the gutter when he
stepped from the frigid streets of Chicago and into his own warm, cozy
photo studio, no one doubts what he brought with him has served him well:
His street sensibilities and his lifetime love “of characters”.

Those can be seen in his work, his shiny “Best of Show” statuettes and his
inclusion in all the fancy award annuals.